The Role of Mesothelin as a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Target in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: A Comprehensive Review

AbstractMesothelin is a tumor differentiation antigen, which is highly expressed in several solid neoplasms, including pancreatic cancer. Its selective expression on malignant cells and on only a limited number of healthy tissues has made it an interesting candidate for investigation as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker and as a therapeutic target. Based on a strong preclinical rationale, a number of therapeutic agents targeting mesothelin have entered clinical trials, including immunotoxins, monoclonal antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, cancer vaccines, and adoptive T cell therapies with chimeric antigen receptors. In pancreatic cancer, mesothelin has been investigated mainly to address two unmet issues: the urgent need for new laboratory techniques for early tumor detection and the lack of successfully targetable oncogenic alterations for patients ’ treatment. In this review, we describe the clinicopathological significance of mesothelin expression in pancreatic cancer initiation and progression, we summarize available studies evaluating mesothelin as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in this disease, and we discuss current ev idence and future perspectives of preclinical and clinical studies testing mesothelin as a molecular target for pancreatic cancer treatment.
Source: Targeted Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research